dilligafbrewing
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2016
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- 74
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Hey all,
I've been brewing on and off for 15 years or so and until recently it was all extracts and partial mashes. I've decided to step it up and do all grain, but I don't have room for all the equipment and wanted to keep my investment at a couple hundred bucks, so here I am, building a BIAB system.
I decided to use my old moonshine still boiler for my vessel, it's an old single element essencia 7.5 gal 1200 watt/120v. Takes about a year to boil, so I'm going to install a 5500 watt/240v water heater element. I researched all manner of boil control methods, PID, PWM, even considered dusting off my old arduino board and building a software based controller from scratch. Ended up choosing the ezboil, for the price it does everything I need it to do and I dont have to spend hours writing code in C+ (which I am not good at). All the parts should be here Friday, here is my vision:
I have a 30amp 240 backfeed box on the basement wall I use to run the house off my backup generator in case of power outage and a heavy duty extension cord for that purpose, so my control box will just have a turn lock outlet on it for mains voltage in. From there I plan to split off one hot leg to power a 12v transformer I had laying around to supply power through switches on the bix to the ezboil and my recirculation pump. That leg will then exit the box and go to one side of my element. The other leg will be switched through a 40 amp SSR controlled by the ezboil, and then to the other side of the element.
The pump will take wort off the bottom of the kettle and spray it down through a sprinkler head in the domed lid of the boiler during mash phase. It will also have a T fitting and ball valves to pump cooled wort into my fermenter. I plan on mounting the thermocouple for the ezboil in the recirculation plumbing as not to put another hole in my kettle.
A 5 gal home depot bucket fits nicely into the top of the vessel, I plan on filling it with holes and using it to hold my bag and grains. A hoist or come along will be bolted into a floor joist above me to aid in lifting.
So that's pretty much it I think. Can anyone identify any potential issues with this before I start wiring?
I've been brewing on and off for 15 years or so and until recently it was all extracts and partial mashes. I've decided to step it up and do all grain, but I don't have room for all the equipment and wanted to keep my investment at a couple hundred bucks, so here I am, building a BIAB system.
I decided to use my old moonshine still boiler for my vessel, it's an old single element essencia 7.5 gal 1200 watt/120v. Takes about a year to boil, so I'm going to install a 5500 watt/240v water heater element. I researched all manner of boil control methods, PID, PWM, even considered dusting off my old arduino board and building a software based controller from scratch. Ended up choosing the ezboil, for the price it does everything I need it to do and I dont have to spend hours writing code in C+ (which I am not good at). All the parts should be here Friday, here is my vision:
I have a 30amp 240 backfeed box on the basement wall I use to run the house off my backup generator in case of power outage and a heavy duty extension cord for that purpose, so my control box will just have a turn lock outlet on it for mains voltage in. From there I plan to split off one hot leg to power a 12v transformer I had laying around to supply power through switches on the bix to the ezboil and my recirculation pump. That leg will then exit the box and go to one side of my element. The other leg will be switched through a 40 amp SSR controlled by the ezboil, and then to the other side of the element.
The pump will take wort off the bottom of the kettle and spray it down through a sprinkler head in the domed lid of the boiler during mash phase. It will also have a T fitting and ball valves to pump cooled wort into my fermenter. I plan on mounting the thermocouple for the ezboil in the recirculation plumbing as not to put another hole in my kettle.
A 5 gal home depot bucket fits nicely into the top of the vessel, I plan on filling it with holes and using it to hold my bag and grains. A hoist or come along will be bolted into a floor joist above me to aid in lifting.
So that's pretty much it I think. Can anyone identify any potential issues with this before I start wiring?
